The First Date
by zlinka
Summary: Sequel to walking her home. The title basically explains everything.
1. Chapter 1

This is the only time that I'm going to write this. I do not own Naruto and at the rate things are going at I probably never will. Any way enjoy.

Hinata Hyuuga was staring into the mirror, trying not to be too vain or too picky. So what that she could see the beginnings of a pimple growing on her chin, she couldn't really do anything about it before her date arrived.

Besides, she never wore makeup before she started dating him, that shouldn't change just because tonight was their first date. Well, maybe a little bit of lip gloss. 'That way if we kiss…' she blushes here and never really finished the thought.

She left her room and walked down the hall to the front door. Unfortunately this meant passing her little sister's room. Hanabi wolf whistled as Hinata passed her room, then scampered to her door. "Does Hinata have a date?"

Hinata blushed but answered honestly, "Yes," this seemed to shut her sister up. No one ever expects the truth about such matters. It was kind of funny watching her sister's mouth open and close as she tried to come up with a witty comeback.

"I have to go now," Hinata came as close to smirking as she ever has, "I don't want to be late." She skipped down the hall, trying to suppress her excited giggles.

She sat in the front room, waiting for her date to announce himself. She knew that he had to meet her father, but there was no way that her father could disapprove of him. He is sweet and kind and a great ninja.

She knew the second he arrived, and had to restrain herself from jumping up from her seat and squealing. Today was their first official date, and she was really excited. It was just going to be the two of them, no teammates or other well meaning friends making her feel like a third wheel.

He was brought into the room where Hinata was waiting for him. She smiled shyly at him, not sure how to act while they were waiting for her father to arrive.

The wait wasn't that long though. When her father came into the room, both Hinata and her date bowed deeply before him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hyuuga sama," her date greeted her father.

"Akamichi san," Hinata's father greeted. "So you wish to take my daughter out on a date?"

"Yes sir."

Hinata's father nodded slowly, "Be back by eleven," he ordered, then left the room.

"I think he likes you Chouji kun," she giggled, taking his hand and heading out.


	2. Chapter 2

Ever sense Hinata had told Chouji that she liked him, he had been worried. He was worried that she would get over it or just come over to him one day and tell him that she was joking. He knew that his worries were really unfounded, because Hinata would never do something like that, but he still felt nervous.

Normally he would have told Shikamaru about his worries and listened to whatever advice he was given, because Shikamaru was really smart. But Shikamaru didn't really know anything about girls. Before he had broken up with Ino, he probably would have asked her for advice. But she was acting weird, even though she was the one who broke it off.

Finally after carefully considering each of his friends, and discarding them because they either didn't know anything about girls or he didn't know them well enough, or both, he decided to talk to his father.

"Son," his father had begun, "Do you remember the day that you and Shikamaru became friends?" Chouji nodded, "Then you remember that I told you that a real friend will be able to look beyond your appearance and see the gentle person that you are?" Again Chouji nodded.

"Well the same is true for women. One day you will find a girl who can look beneath your appearance and see the kindest, gentlest ninja in the village. And when you find that girl you will give her your loyalty and love. This can be a painful process, as you found out with your friend Ino, but if you don't risk the hurt, you'll miss the girl."

Chouji didn't say anything, just sat there absorbing his father's words. He nodded to himself slowly, making up his mind.

The next day he saw Hinata and her teammates. They met up with Chouji's team for an evening meal. Ino didn't seem happy about seeing Hinata again, but Chouji was excited. He ate his meal quickly, and then regretted doing that because no one else was finished with their meal, and so he had to wait. Hinata had offered to share her food, thinking that he must have still been hungry because of how quickly he ate, but Chouji refused.

Finally everyone was finished and as usual Chouji volunteered to walk Hinata home. He couldn't think of anything to say to her on the way to her house, so the walk was a little awkward, but not painfully so.

When they reached the Hyuuga compound gate, Hinata turned to Chouji to bid him good night, but Chouji quickly grabbed her hand, asking her to wait.

At Hinata's quizzical gaze, he found himself blushing and stuttering, "Um… Hinata Chan?… T-This Friday would you like to go on a d-date with me?" When the last sentence was uttered, Chouji finally noticed that he was staring at Hinata's feet, so he looked at her face hopefully.

"I-I'd like that C-Chouji kun," she stuttered back, her cheeks were flushed and she was smiling cutely.

"Great," he said relieved, "So I'll pick you up here at 7:00?" Hinata nodded, and they parted ways awkwardly.

That's pretty much how Chouji remembered winding up walking hand in hand with Hinata through the town, towards one of Konoha's nicest restaurants. It didn't hurt that his aunt owned the restaurant, so he could be assured of good service, a great view, and the best food in town.

They talked about small things as they made their way through town. The latest mission they had, new training techniques, and funny things that had happened to them. When they reached the restaurant, they had just gotten sat down at their table when the subject of teammates came up.

"You were lucky Chouji kun," Hinata stated, "You were placed on a team with your best friend. I remember being very intimidated by my team. For the first week of training, Kiba would pick a fight with Shino over who the leader was, and al I could do was sit on the sidelines with Akamaru and watch." She giggled a little at the memory.

Chouji chuckled in appreciation, "On the very first day that our teams were chosen, during lunch Ino told us that if we just did what she said we would get along fine. Then she had us stalk Sasuke for a week, until Shikamaru and I just lay down in a field and watched the clouds. She yelled at us for an hour strait before she gave up and joined us."

"It must be really nice being such good friends with your teammates," Hinata sounded a little wistful.

"Do you not get along with Shino and Kiba?"

Hinata blushed, "I-I like them a lot," she explained, " I-It's just that sometimes I think that they think that I'm a burden. It feels like they always have to protect me from one thing or another."

" They don't have to protect you Hinata Chan," Chouji assured his date, "They want to protect you. That's what teammates do." Hinata smiled shyly at him at this declaration.

Then their dinner arrived and there was a comfortable silence as they ate.


	3. Chapter 3

Hinata barely suppressed a whimper of disappointment as she found that her dessert bowl was empty. She had savored every bite of the decadent sweet, and was almost sad that there wasn't any left. But she also knew that if she ate another bite of food, she wouldn't be able to get out of her chair.

She set the dish down, and smiled at Chouji, who had finished eating shortly before her. Hinata was very impressed with his table manners. He had ordered almost twice as much food as she had, but he had managed to clear his plates quickly and cleanly.

After a few minutes of quiet conversation, to allow their bodies to digest the wonderful food they had just eaten, Chouji paid the bill and they left. At Hinata's questioning look Chouji explained.

"Yes, the owner is my Aunt, and I'm her favorite nephew. But she is also a business woman. If she had a 'family eats free policy,' she would have been out of business years ago," he chuckled and Hinata giggled.

"We have two hours before I have to get you home. Is there anything that you would like to do with that time?" Chouji asked. Hinata blushed and shook her head. 'I just like being with you Chouji kun,' she thought to herself, willing the words to go out of her mouth, but that wasn't going to happen. So instead she did the most gutsy thing she could think of. She reached over and grabbed his hand, twisting her fingers up in his.

She peeked over at Chouji from under her lashes, to see what his reaction was. The smile he wore made the bold move worth it. They walked the streets of Konoha in comfortable silence. Niether wanting to ruin the moment.

"I know a place we can go if you want," Chouji offered. Hinata thought for a while, then grinned up at him and nodded. Chouji's grip on her hand tightened, but not painfully so. His pace picked up and he started leading her through the streets. Eventually he lead her to the school, causing Hinata to look at him questioningly.

"Don't worry," he assured her, " You're going to love this." He lead her to the side of the building, where there was a ladder to the roof. Reluctantly he let go of her hand, and motioned her to climb the ladder. Hinata did so, blushing at the thought that Chouji might be checking out her butt.

Of course she realized that the lighting wasn't ideal for doing that, unless you were a Hyuuga, but he could be, and that's what mattered. Subconsciously she added a swing to her hips as she moved from one ladder step to the other. Finally she reached the top and she did a cute little hop onto the roof, spinning around to wait for Chouji.

First were his hands, which Hinata could see had many nicks and calasus that all ninja's had. Then were the tufts of his spiky hair. She surpressed a giggle as the ends of his spiky hair turned into his honest round face. He smiled at her, and Hinata couldn't help but smile back. 'He's right,' she thought, ' I do love this.'

He approached her slowly and cautiously, as though he thought that if he made a sudden move she would bolt or possibly shatter into a million pieces. She smiled reassuringly as he reached out for her hand.

Chouji lead her to a bench that was sitting conveniently on the roof, as if waiting for the couple. He gently urged her to sit.

"This is where I first met Shikamaru," he started, "It was one of those days where everything just turns out wrong. Then, he shows up, sits down and starts cloud watching. We've been together ever since."

"That's a nice story," Hinata said, staring at the stars. They were silent for a very long time.

"This is where we met Kurenai-sensei for the first time," Hinata volunteered. "She said that she chose the spot because there was something special here. She said that the people who meet here stay together forever, and that she wanted us to know that no matter what happened, we were a team and we were stuck together," she laughed a little to herself. "Kiba-kun immediately jumped up and tried to run away. He said that he didn't want to be stuck with a bug-freak for the rest of his life. Shino-kun just said 'sit', and Kiba-kun did."

"So do you want to be stuck with me forever?" Chouji teased.

"Well you're the one who braught me here, so I could ask you the same thing couldn't I?" Hinata teased back.

"True, but you knew about the legend before we got here. I just like the view," Chouji protested.

"It is a very nice view," Hinata agreed, and all was silent.


End file.
